Integral creped wadding container and expander



March 3, 1970 l B. G. JHNsQN 3,498,519

INTEGRAL CREPED WADDING CONTAINER AND EXPANDER Filed July 12, 196eEXPANDED WADDING United States Patent O 3,498,519 INTEGRAL CREPEDWADDING CONTAINER AND EXPANDER Bernard G. Johnson, Neenah, Wis.,assignor to Kimberly- Clark Corporation, Neenah, Wis., a corporation ofDelaware Filed July 12, 1968, Ser. No. 744,376

Int. Cl. B65d 5/72 U.S. Cl. 229-7 2 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE Acarton having top, bottom and vertically extending walls forming anenclosure and ilap means lying in a plane beneath the top wall andincluding flaps spaced apart in the front to back direction of thecarton to form a dispensing slot. The top wall has a slit co-extensivewith the dispensing slot to communicate the interior of the carton tothe exterior through the top wall. Sheets or batts of creped waddingcompressed endwise, retained within the carton in substantiallycontinuous lengths, may be withdrawn through the dispensing slot toexpand the wadding to material of low density from higher density andmaterial of high bulk from a lower bulk.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This inventionrelates to a carton construction which is particularly intended as acreped wadding expander device.

The invention and the prior art- Many products such as wall insulation,packaging, cushion material, base material for sanitary napkins and thelike use creped tissue wadding as a prime component. Such waddingcontains one or more, and very often a considerable multiplicity, ofplies. It is known ton compress sheets or batts of such wadding endwiseto a small fraction of their original ilength while the sheet or battthickness remains substantially constant. The sheet density increasesand the bulk decreases; such action permits storing and shipping of thecreped wadding in a limited space. The user may re-expand the wadding.Prior art devices for this purpose are useful; this invention provides adevice for effecting re-expansion which may be carried out manually,which minimizes dusting and which may be carried out on relatively smallquantities of the wadding in a very economical manner.

More specifically, this invention provides a shipping carton providedwith ap means which lie beneath the usual top wall of the shippingcarton. The ap means are spaced apart in the front to back direction ofthe carton to form a dispensing slot which communicates with a slit in atop wall. The creped wadding stored within the carton is drawnlengthwise through the slot and is engaged frictionally by the flapmeans to effect a longitudinal drawing and reexpansion of the compressedcreped wadding. To inhibit binding of the wadding in the withdrawal, theend walls of the carton have notches communicating with the slot so thatla'ny tendency of the compressed wadding to bind endwise is overcome.

The invention will be more fully understood from the following detaileddescription and accompanying drawings wherein:

PIG. 1 is a perspective view of a carton in accordance with theinvention with the top wall portions raised to more clearly illustratenovel features of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view illustrating particularly an arrangement of ap meanswith the top wall removed; and

3,498,519 Patented Mar. 3, 1970 lCC FIG. 3 is a sectional viewillustrating the method of carton use, a number of compressed waddingplies being shown within the carton. l

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 generally designates a cartonformed in accordance with the invention. The basic carton constructionis well known, forms no part of the present invention and, accordingly,is illustrated and discussed only in suicient detail to provide acomplete understanding of this invention.

Carton 1 is of any suitable material such as pulp board. The cartonincludes vertically extending end walls 2, 3. A vertically extendingfront wall is shown at 4 and a back wall at 5. The necessary bottom wallis indicated at 6. The top wall in this preferred embodiment is providedby wall sections 7, 8. Wall sections 7, 8 in FIG. 1 are shown as drawnback; in FIG. 3 they are shown in position for carton use, that is,brought together over the ilap means provided in accordance with thisinvention.

The flap means in the preferred embodiment shown incl-ude aps or flapportions 9, 10, 11 and 12. Each llap portion is united integrally withan end wall. I have found that it is preferable to provide the flapportions so that they form a longitudinal wadding dispensing slot 13closely adjacent a longitudinal wall of the carton such as wall 4. Forthis purpose I provide flap portions 9, 10 to be each of greaterdimension widthwise of the carton than flap portions 11, 12. Also, theilap portion 9 terminates short of the flap portion 12 in the widthdirection to provide for slot 13. Flap portion 10 is similarly relatedto flap portion 11. Thus, in effect, the ap means are spaced apart inthe front to back direction of the carton to form the dispensing slot;the slot width is readily provided as desired in the cutting of thecarton stock flaps so that the compressed wadding will be sufbject tofrictional engagement by the apmeans when the wadding is drawn throughthe slot. Such engagement stretches out the crepe wadding as indicatedgenerally in FIG. 3; in effect, the creped hill and valley nature of thewadding becomes more aparent to the eye as the wadding is withdrawn.

The flap portions 9, 10, 11 and 12 are integral with end walls of thecarton and the carton may be formed from a at blank'in a singleoperation, if desired. The ap portions hinge or pivot on the end wallsand each has an inner free end as designated at 9', 10', 11' and 12(FIG. 2). These free ends form a front to back opening 14 which, asshown in the drawings, intersects slot 13 at substantially right angles.The flap portions thus have a degree of freedom and aid in maintainingadequate tension on material passing through slot 13. The top portions7, 8 secured in customary manner limit the movement of the flapportions.

The package of compressed wadding indicated generally at 15 in FIG. 3has been partially dispensed and the drawing is somewhat idealized forclarity. The material 13 is withdrawn in the direction of the arrow.Importantly, the creped and compressed wadding, when withdrawn, does notsignificantly project dust or nes into the air; the fine material tendsto be retained within the carton thereby providing an unexpectedbenefit.

The crepe compressed wadding may tend to shift in the widthdrawalaction. This may occur for any of a number of reasons including theparticular withdrawal action, the original packing of the compressedwadding and the like. To aid withdrawal I have provided in the end walls2, 3 notches 16, 17 which communicate with the slot 13 at either end ofthe carton. Shifting of the wadding then does not cause abutment of theend walls and binding which would lead to undue tension, dusting and thelike.

Withdrawal may also be aided in some instances by simply turning the boxup or on a side; gravity then may aid withdrawal by changing the angleof approach of the wadding to the slot 13.

What is claimed is:

1. A carton having top, bottom and vertically extending walls forming anenclosure, the vertically extending walls including front, back and endwalls, ap means projecting parallel to the front and back walls andarranged to lie in a plane beneath the top wall, said flap meansincluding aps spaced apart in the front to back direction of the cartonto form a dispensing slot so that material drawn through the slot may besubjected to frictional engagement by the flap means, said top wallhaving a slit coextensive with said dispensing slot, and said cartonhaving a notch formed in each of opposed end walls of the carton .4communicating with the dispensing slot formed by the ap means.

2. A carton according to claim 1 in which the notch formed in an endWall is of generally rectangular shape.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,816,699 12/1957 Nute et al.229-51 3,226,007 12/ 1965 Thies et al. 229-39 10 DAVID M. BOCKENEK,Primary Examiner n U.s. c1. X.R.

